On college basketball.

`Godfather' of Gators

Al Horford starts shaking his head and rolling his eyes as the question unfolds. It is aimed at Billy Donovan, his coach at Florida, who is being asked why he started referring to his 6-foot-10-inch center as "The Godfather."

They are sharing a stage with the other Gators starters and now, as if cued, each starts giggling or smiling or laughing out loud.

"Well," Donovan says, "I just felt like in `The Godfather,' Don Corleone didn't say a whole lot, but he had a great presence about himself.

"And Al, with our team, is not a man of many words, but certainly his presence and the respect level the team has for him goes a long way. So that's how it started. I don't know how Al feels about that. He's probably never seen `The Godfather.'"

"I've never seen `The Godfather.' I have nothing to say about that," Horford assures, stifling a giggle.

But later, in a different setting, he is more forthcoming when his taciturn manner again is raised.

"I've always been this way," he says. "I always do more listening than I do talking. That's just the way I am."

Considering the personalities around him, is that good for the team?

"Yeah, it's good for balance," he says. "All the other guys are going to talk away, so it's always good to be able to step in and be like, `All right. Enough.' That's good, good for team chemistry."

That last answer is a veritable speech for Horford, surely the least publicized and arguably the most talented Gator of them all. He receives little of the attention showered on the ebullient Joakim Noah, Florida's 6-11 forward, and speaks far less than the always chatty Corey Brewer, its 6-9 wing. He does not have a specialty like the 6-2 Lee Humphrey, who shoots a sweet three, nor does he play a most visible position like the point, which belongs to 6-foot Taurean Green.

But he has developed into a top-five NBA draft pick, higher than even Noah, and as Florida prepares to face UCLA in the semifinals of the NCAA tournament Saturday, he is not only its leading rebounder (9.2 rpg) and shot-blocker (68, tied with Noah) and second-leading scorer (13.2 points per game, just 1/10th of a point behind Green). He is also Florida's smartest player.

"A guy like Al Horford, I really mean this, if we run a lot of different things, if we do a lot of different things, he could tell me everybody's responsibility from the point guard all the way to the power forward spot," Donovan says. "With a young player, that's very, very rare."

Rarer still is a basketball star from the Dominican Republic, that baseball hotbed where he was born. But his father, Tito, was a starter at Miami and an NBA journeyman. So after a brief fling with first base, he settled on his dad's game as his sport as well.

Even then he was quiet yet inquisitive, reserved yet curious, and soon he was sitting with his coaches and drawing up plays.

"I was always interested in that kind of stuff," he says. "I always asked a lot of questions when I was little about the game and everything. Sometimes [my dad] thought, how would I know that, what am I talking about? But I always liked asking a lot of questions . . . and I just try to do the same thing now."

In high school he moved to Michigan to further his basketball acumen, yet when he arrived at Florida, he still was unformed.

"I would classify him as big, strong and raw," Donovan recalls.

But he was a starter by the end of his freshman year, and last season he emerged as the Gators' low-post presence as they made their way to the NCAA championship.

Yet he was still one-dimensional and only this year developed into the complete player the pros covet. His hands improved, which resulted in fewer turnovers, and so did his midrange jumper, which increased his scoring average and draft status.

"Last year," he says, "a lot of my game was in the paint. This year I feel really comfortable stepping out, and if I have to shoot the ball, shoot the ball, and if I have to back down into a move, do that."

Donovan credits his work last summer on different parts of his game, particularly his 15- to 17-foot jumper.

"He has worked hard on his left hand," Donovan says. "Worked hard on different things from the low post and off the block. It has been great for me as a coach over the last three years to see his maturation and growth as a player."

That is why many now regard him as the most talented Gator of them all and why this weekend he very well could emerge as the surprising star of the Final Four. But no matter his numbers in Atlanta, he surely will be a presence, which brings us back to his nickname and the ever-obliging Brewer.

He has seen "The Godfather," so we ask him if the tag fits.

"It fits," he says. "Just because Al's like, he's a quiet guy. But when he does something, when he nods his head or says, `We need to do this,' coach listens, everyone on the team listens to him. He's like our leader."